


Strange Encounter

by oceansgrey



Series: Kisame Week 2019 [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Kisame Week 2019, Kisamehada
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 20:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20087956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceansgrey/pseuds/oceansgrey
Summary: Itachi just wanted to go down to the shore to get a break from his family. He didn't expect a giant shark-like creature to pop up out of the sea and start talking to him.





	Strange Encounter

Itachi, like clockwork, would find a way to slip from the boring meetings his father insisted on holding and sneak down to the ocean, far away from the prying eyes of his family.

It calmed him, the salty air and the cool breeze rolling off the waves. Slipping out of his shoes, he liked to just stand in the shallow pools of water, the ocean lapping at his feet with each roll and tumble of the tide. He did it so often even Sasuke, who was too enamored with everything Naruto did, began to notice. His mother may have caught on, but she would simply give him a soft smile before she went back to follow after his father, too focused on politics to truly care what his son did in his free time.

It was quiet, his secret side of the beach, hidden behind a crag that his parents never thought to go around, to see what was on the other side. It allowed for him to take off the crown he never asked for, to shun his princely duties if only for an hour. He liked to go out there, a book snuck from the library tucked under his arm, just to read.

With how loud his family was, he began to cherish the sound of the ocean, the silence in the crash of waves as it would reach its crescendo to slam into the cliffside. The shells that speckled the shore, once homes to sea creatures making a beautiful canvas. He only took a few, careful not to take anything with a living organism in it. The sand was always warm under his feet, a soothing comfort when the ocean water got too cold. Sunsets in his personal sanctuary were breathtaking, a sight he alone got to cherish.

Today, it seemed, something interesting was going to happen.

Itachi didn’t have the best eyesight, but about a hundred yards out, he spotted a greyish figure.

Setting down his book, he wandered over to the edge of the water, bringing a hand up to shade the sun from his eyes as he squinted to try to see the figure better. Upon being spotted, the figure dipped back underwater, a thick grey tail flicking up before fully submerging underwater.

“What was that?” he asked himself, watching the waves roll closer. Itachi bent down to roll up his pantlegs to his knees, wadding a little further into the water. He saw something move under the water a few yards before him under the waves before the surface of the water broke loudly, startling him enough he fell backwards.

Before him, half out of the water, was a shark-like creature, far different from the ones he had seen sketched in books. This shark had arms, pectoral fins branching off from around the elbow, and from what Itachi could see, legs, skin a pallor grey. The shark’s skin looked smooth, and Itachi had to resist the urge to reach out and run a hand across the dorsal fin.

He had heard stories from sailors of sharks eating men whole, the water a bloodbath with flesh and broken bone left in the wake of destruction. His heart hammered against his ribcage as he tried to quell the fear that rose in his chest.

That fear quickly subsided into curiosity as the labial furrows of the shark’s face turned upward, and…

_Was the shark smiling at him?_

_Quick, Itachi! Think!_ His brain screamed, and Itachi let out a startled shout as his hand shot out, punching the shark on the nose. Once the creature reeled back, howling in pain, Itachi scrambled back to his feet, hating the feeling of his clothes, now completely soaked, sticking to his skin.

“Do you greet everyone you meet with a punch to the face?” the shark asked, a large clawed hand coming to grasp at his nose.

Itachi immediately felt bad for hurting it’s feelings, but-

“Did you just speak?” he asked, bewildered, watching the gills on the side of the shark’s neck flutter quickly as he struggled to breathe.

“I did,” the shark said. “Are all humans this rude?”

“I’m sorry?” Itachi apologized, not sure if he was hallucinating or not. His father would never believe him.

“Are all humans as pretty as you?” the shark asked, and Itachi felt his face burn up. The shark started laughing, a laugh like trickling water as it laid back in the water.

“What are you?” Itachi found his voice, baffled at this strange encounter.

“I’m Kisame. You are…?”

“Itachi,” Itachi held out a hand, his new companion scoffing. Kisame stood to his full height, towering over Itachi by a good foot in height difference.

Kisame gave him a grin, mouth riddled with large sharp teeth.

“Do you always jump out of the sea and startle people?”

“No, just pretty ones I’ve been watching for a while,”

“Watching?”

“Yeah,” Kisame turned, pointing to a large rock sticking out of the sea floor. “I sunbathe over there, and I keep seeing you sitting here doing a load of nothing,”

Itachi darted his eyes up to the strange beast in front of him.

“Well, sunbathing is a whole lot of nothing,”

Kisame laughed, and Itachi was starting to enjoy the sound.

“I don’t usually speak to humans,” Kisame admitted. “There was one, a fisherman who taught me how to speak your language when I was a kid, but he became that damned octopus Gyuki’s dinner one day,”

“I don’t usually speak to sharks,”

“Care to change your mind?”

Kisame enjoyed sunbathing on the beach, lying by Itachi’s side as the prince read him a book. The soft lull of his voice would have made it easy for him to drift off into a nap.

He was already enjoying the quiet prince’s company, answering any and all questions about life under the water, away from humans. Kisame told him about the political arguments between clans, how he could breathe underwater because his lungs had adapted for long land travel, the way his skin could change to blend in a bit better with humans if he truly wanted to.

Once his form had adapted to land, Itachi had looked at him with wide eyes, a hand coming to cup at his strong jaw.

"Does it hurt when you change?"

"Not at all,"

"Do you completely look human if you stay out of the water long enough?" Itachi closed his book, shifting to look at Kisame a bit more intently. 

"No, I keep some characteristics," 

"Oh?"

“I still have sharp teeth, and these gills,” Kisame pointed to his shoulders and cheekbones. “But my fins go away, as you can tell, and my claws retract-”

“Big brother!” Sasuke’s voice rang out through the beach, and Itachi felt his blood run cold. “Big brother, where are you?”

“Sasuke,” Itachi whipped his head around, fear coursing through him. Sasuke couldn’t come here, not now, not when there was a giant shark-man in front of him.

“That’s my cue to leave. I’ll see you around, Itachi. Same time tomorrow?” Kisame gave him a wink before turning and diving back into the ocean, hidden beneath the waves of the sea.

Itachi stared at Kisame swimming off, a small smile on his face knowing that he could take time to process this meeting and come back with more questions for another day.

“There you are!” Sasuke shouted, Itachi drawing his gaze away from the rolling waves to him. “Father’s looking for you. He’s mad, and why are you all wet? Did you go swimming without me?”

Itachi looked back at the sea, seeing a brief flicker of Kisame’s thick tail before he swam too far out, becoming nothing but a blur.

How he wished he could be free like that, belonging to life under the sea.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to describe Kisame in this as the way he looks when he fuses with Samehada, because it looks really cool.  
Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think! Comments and critiques are always appreciated :)


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